A LION IN THE HOUSE follows the stories of five exceptional children
and their families as they battle pediatric cancer. From the trauma
of diagnosis to the physical toll of treatment, this series documents
the stresses that can tear a family apart as well as the courage of
children facing the possibility of death with honesty, dignity and
humor. As the film compresses six years into one narrative, it puts
viewers in the shoes of parents, physicians, nurses, siblings, grandparents
and social workers who struggle to defeat an indiscriminate and predatory
disease.
This unprecedented portrait of pediatric cancer’s life-altering
effects introduces seven-year-old Alex, a bundle of energy with dark
eyes and curls; and Tim, a mercurial, quick-witted 16-year-old with
a thousand-watt smile. Justin is amiable and stalwart at 19, despite
ten years of fighting the disease. Jen is a serious, quiet six-year-old
and Al is a quicksilver, wry 11-year-old.
Each child has a unique experience in confronting the disease and
the treatment, but each embarks on a journey that is bewildering, terrifying,
nearly unbearable and certainly quite unlike anything most people associate
with the normal experience of childhood. The families of the children
join them on their harrowing odyssey, and regardless of outcome, no
one involved will ever be the same again.
Even as they cope with their children’s pain and discomfort,
the parents must also find a way to finance the enormous costs of treatment.
Alex’s father Scott estimates that his insurance company has
paid two million dollars so far for his daughter’s treatment.
Meanwhile, Al’s mother, Regina, has minimal insurance coverage
and must navigate a mystifying bureaucracy to get her son’s medical
bills paid. And Marietha, who used to work before Tim got sick, is
now on welfare and must spend money she can’t afford on cab fares
to visit Tim in the hospital.
Meet The Families »
Directors Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert take their cameras into
these dilemmas and inside hospital rooms, family homes and medical
staff meetings, providing audiences with a rare look behind-the-scenes
as families and medical professionals wrestle with difficult questions
and negotiate a plan of action. Agonizing questions arise: in the face
of a persistently negative prognosis, how do parents and children find
hope for each other? When does optimism become denial? When a child
doesn’t respond, at what point should treatment be stopped? And
who should make the decisions—the parents, the doctors, or the
children themselves?
Points of view diverge and nerves shatter as the families and children
confront such life and death decisions in this intimate, intense and
ultimately inspiring documentary about ordinary people working through
the impossible.
Read the Filmmaker Bios »
Read the Filmmaker Q&A »
Read the Filmmaker Journal »
See the Film Credits »
At Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, children find support
and treatment for cancer and other diseases, while families learn to
cope with the demands of caregiving and the hospital’s doctors
and researchers work to find new treatments and cures.
Learn more about the Cincinnati Children’s
Hospital »
Learn about the medical staff »
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